Motor support for sewing machines



March 8, 1 932. R. s. KELSO ET AL MOTOR SUPPORT FOR SEWING MACHINESFiled Oct. 6, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l gwwntow 24m 6. K5460 61502651?WWIYW/B/GWT March 8, 1932. R s so ET AL 1,848,353

MOTOR SUPPORT FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed Oct. 6, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2gwuwntow P411124 67/5460 GEOPGZEM/M WGW Patented Mar. 3, 1932 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE RALPH S. KELSO AND GEORGE WAINWBIGHT, OF ROCKFORD,ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS IO FREE SEWING MACHINE COMPANY, OF ROCKFORD,ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION 01 I ILLINOIS MOTOR SUPPORT FOR SEWINGApplication filed October 6, 1930. Serial No. 486,816.

This invention relates to motor supports for sewing machines.

The present invention is, in a sense, an im-' provement over theconstruction shown in 5 the copending application of Ralph S. Kelso,

Serial No. 410,562, filed November 29th, 1929. In the latterapplication, there is disclosed a motor for sewing machines having afriction driving element on the shaft thereof, and an intermediatefriction wheel is arranged between the friction element of the motorshaft and the hand wheel of the sewing machine. The motor is pivotallysupported with respect to the head of the machine, and spring -means isemployed which tends to move the motor about its pivot to maintain theproper engagement between the various frictional surfaces.

The present invention relates generally to a support for the motors ofsewing machines and is particularly intended for use with the type ofdriving mechanism illustrated in the copending application referred to.It will become apparent, however, that the invention is not limited toits application to the type of friction drive means referred to, but maybe employed advantageously in connection with other types of drive meansfor sewing machines, such as the typeswherein the friction elementcarried by the motor shaft is arranged in direct driving engagement withthe hand wheel of the sewing machine. An important object of the presentinvenbracket which is simple in construction and which readily may beadjusted to vary the frictional engagement between the driving elements.

A further object is to provide novel supporting means for a sewingmachine motor all of the parts of which are arranged externally of thehead of the machine to render them readily accessible.

A further object is to provide pivotal supporting means. for a sewingmachine motor in combination with resilient means tending to move themotor about its pivot, the motor supporting means being of such naturethat the parallel relationship bet-ween the motor tion is to provide anovel motor supporting shaft and the shaft of the sewing machine isretained in all adjusted positions of the motor.

Afurther object is to provide-a novel supporting bracket for the'motorand associated elements of a sewing machine, which is arranged at oneend of the head of the mach1ne and is adapted to swing about an axisparallelto the axis of rotation of the hand wheel whereby theparallel.,relationship between the latter axis and that of the motor isretained in all adjusted positions of the latter.

further object is to provide novel resihent means tending to urge themotoi" toward the hand wheel to provide the proper engagement betweenthe surfaces of the various frictional driving elements.

A further object is to provide a two part supporting bracket for asewing machine motor, one partof'the bracket being ri idly connected tothe head of the sewing mac no, the other part of the bracket beingivotal- 1y connected to the first part and directly supporting themotor, and to provide resilient means connected between the parts of thebracket for urging the friction driving element of the motor shafttoward the hand wheel of the sewing machine.

A further object is to provide a device of the character just referredto having novel means for substantially obscuring the resili ent meansfrom view to improve the appearance of the device.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparentduring the course of the following description.

In the drawings we have shown one embodiment of the invention. In thisshowing,

Figure 1 is a fragmentary rear elevation of a portion of a sewingmachine head, showing the invention applied,

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the same,

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail section on line 3-3 of Figure 1, and,

Figure 4 is a detail perspective view of the swinging bracket member.

Referring to the drawings the numeral 10 designates the body of a sewingmachine as a whole comprising a bed 11 and a head including a standard12 and a horizontal arm 13. The sewingmachine, aside from the drivingmeans to be described, operates in the usual manner and forms no art ofthe present in vention. As shown in igure 2, the machine is providedwith the usual operating shaft 14 carrying a hand wheel 15 ofsubstantially smaller diameter than ordinary constructions. The deviceforming the su ject matter of the resent invention comprises a two-piecebracket, the parts of which are indicated by the numerals 16 and 17 Thebracket member 16 is secured against the outer face of-the standard 12by screws 18 as shown in Figure 2. The bracket member 16 is adapted tosupport a bobbin winder ind cated as a whole by the numeral 19, andincluding an arm 20 secured to the bracket me'mberlG by screws 21 and22. The latter screw extends through a slot 23 formed in the inner endof the arm 20 to permit the latter to assume adjustedpositions.

The bracket member 16 is provided rearwardly thereof with a relativelylarge ear 24, I

to which the bracket member 17 is pivotally connected by means of a bolt25, passing through an opening 26 formed in the bracket 17. The forwardend of the bracket member 16 is provided with a projecting portion 27which terminates in an outstanding lip 28 for a purpose to be described.

Above the opening 26, the bracket member 17 is provided with asubstantially semicircular cut-out portion 29, and above and below thiscut-out portion,the bracket member is provided with openings 30. Thesemicircular cut-out portion is adapted to extend around the end portionofrthe casing of an electric motor 31, and screws 32 extend through theopenings and into the motor casing for securing the latter to thebracket member 17. An integral arm 33 is carried by the bracket member17 and extends along one side of the motor casing parallel thereto. Thisarm is provided in its end with an opening 34 through which passes ascrew 35 for securing the arm to the.motor casing. It will be apparentthat the screws 32 and 35 serve to rigidly secure the motor to thebracket member 17.

The motor 31 is provided with the usual armature shaft 36, and afriction driving member 37 is carried by this shaft. Referring to Figure2, it will be noted that an intermediate friction wheel 38 is arrangedbetween the friction element 37 and hand wheel 15, and is provided witha peripheral rubber or other resilient portion 39 to provide anefficient frictional engaging face. The in-.

termediate friction wheel is rotatable on a shaft 40 carried by one endof an arm 41. A

bolt 42 passes'through the upper end of the arm 41 and through a slot 43formed in the upper end of the bracket member 17 as shownin Figures 2and 4. The slot 43 obviously permits the bolt 42, and oonsequentl thefriction wheel 38, to be arran ed in ad justed positions with respect tot e bracket member 17, and the arm 41 freely pivots about the bolt 42 topermit the friction wheel 38 to seek its proper position in equalfrictional enga ement with the friction element 37 and hen wheel 15. Asshown, the axis of the shaft 40 is arranged to one side of a planepassing through the shafts 14 and 36.

A cover 44 is arranged over the frictional driving means, as shownin'Figures 1 and 2. The cover is provided with cars 45 through whichpass screws 46, and these screws are threaded in openings 47 formed inthe bracket member 17. The end of the cover 44 adjacent the hand wheel15 obviously is open to (permit the latter to extend into the cover an38 into engagement with the friction wheel washer 54 arranged on the ear52.

The operation of the device is as follows:

The frictional driving means per se operates identically with thecorresponding means of the copending application Serial No. 410,562above referred to. Rotation of the frictional driving member 37transmits its rotation to the intermediate wheel 38 through theresilient band 39, and the latter rotates the hand wheel 15. The use ofthe intermediate wheel 38 permits the use of a much smallerhand wheelthan is employed with ordinary constructions, thus improving theappearance of the sewing machine. The shaft 40 of the intermediate wheel38 swings freely about the axis of the bolt 42 and accordingly theintermediate wheel seeks its proper po-- sition to cause the samefrictional pressure to be exerted between the wheel 38 and the elementswith which it is in frictional engagement.

It will be apparent that the spring 53 exerts a resilient forcedownwardly and rearwardly against the adjacent arm of the bracket 17 andthusthe motor tendsto move inwardly and upwardly toward the hand wheel15. Thus the spring exerts the proper resilient force to maintain thefrictional driving elements in engagement with each other, and thisresilient force obviously may be adjusted by rotating the knurled head49 of the screw 48. The stem 50 serves to retain the lower end of thespring 53 in proper position, and

it also acts as a guide for the adjacent end of the bracket member 17,by operating in the opening 51. This opening is only suificientlyelongated to permit the bracket member 17 to partake of limited swingingmovement.

It will be apparent that the swinging movement of the bracket member 17takes place about the axis of the bolt 25, which is parallel to the axesof all of the shafts 14, 36 and 40. Regardless of the position assumedby the bracket 17 under the influence ofthe spring pressure, therefore,the parallel relationship between the various axes referred to will beretained. With the usual construe tions, the swinging movement of themotor takes place about an axis arranged at an angle tothe axis ofrotation of the hand wheel, thus causing the frictional driving memberof the motor shaft to assume increasingly greater angles with respect tothe operating shaft as wear takes place between the frictional drivingelements. This result obviously is prevented with the presentconstruct-ion.

Withthe usual constructions, the spring means employed for urging thefrictional driving elements into proper engagement with each other ismounted within the standard 12. With the present construction thespring, as well as all of the other operating parts, is mountedexternally of the head of the machine, and these parts accordingly arereadily accessible. It will be apparent that the entire apparatusreadily may be detached from the sewing machine merely by remov the twoscrews 18. The arrangement of the greater portion of the spring 53within the threaded sleeve. 48 substantially hides the spring from view,thus improving the appearance of the device.

. While the device has been illustrated in connection with frictiondrivemeans including the intermediate drive wheel 38, it will be apparentthat it advantageously may be employed in connection with the moreconventional types of driving means wherein the frictional membercarried by the motor shaft contacts directly with the hand wheel. of thesewing machine. 1

It is to be understood that the form of our invention herewith shown anddescribed is to be taken as a preferred example of the same and thatvarious changes in the shape, size and arrangement of-parts may beresorted to without departing from the spirit of our invention or thescope of the subjoined claims. "We claim:

1. The combination with a sewing machine including a rotatable element,a motor, and frictional driving elements connected between the shaft ofthe motor and said rotatable element, of a bracket having a cut-outportion at one end extending around said first name motor, said bracketfurther being provided and the other end of said first named bracket totend to swing the latter about its pivot axis to maintain said drivingelements in engagement with each other.

2. The combination with a sewing machine including a rotatable element,a motor, and frictional driving elements connected between the shaft ofthe motor and said rotatable element, of a swinging bracket having acut-out portion at one end extending around said motor and provided onopposite sides of said cut-out portion with openings, an arm formedintegral with said swinging bracket and extending along said motor andprovided with an opening, fastening elements extending through saidopenings for securing said motor to said bracket, a supporting bracketcarried by the sewing machine, pivot means for connecting said firstnamed bracket intermediate its ends to said supporting bracket to swingabout an axis parallel to the axis of said rotatable element,-an earformed on the other end of said swinging bracket, and v motor at one endthereof and providedwith.

openings therein, said bracket further being provided with an armextending along one side of said motor with an opening therein, saidopenings being adapted to receive fastening means for securing saidmotor to said bracket, a supporting bracket carried by the sewingmachine, pivot means for connecting said first named bracketintermediate its ends to said second named bracket, and aspring arrangedbetween said supportin bracket and the other end of said bracket to tendto swing the latter about its pivot axis to maintain said drivingelements in engagement with each other. I In testimony whereof we aflixour natures.

\ RALPH S. KELSO.

GEORGE R. WAINWRIGHT.

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